How to Write a Compelling Blog Post

Most brands appreciate the need to have a website and a company blog that is updated regularly. However, creating a solid content marketing plan can be more complicated than it looks. This article is here to help by providing the key components to writing compelling blog posts.

Write For Your Target Audience, Not Yourself

Companies often fall into the trap of creating blog posts that resonate with them personally, but not necessarily with their audience. The problem with this strategy is it’s all about engagement, and it doesn’t matter if you are interested in the content. Therefore, before you even start writing, you want to do your audience research.

There are various ways you can find out about your target audience such as looking at Google Analytics, social media analytics and reviewing which of your posts have been the most engaging in the past. When you write on a topic they care about and provide value, then you are more likely to see comments and shares. This approach helps to humanize your brand, making your followers see you more as a relatable friend rather than a faceless entity.

Craft An Attention-Grabbing Headline

Sometimes great content marketing isn’t seen because the brand isn’t using the right strategy to get eyeballs onto it. This process should start with your headline, which represents the first opportunity you have to impress. Again, research is going to play a part here to ensure you are using the right keywords.

Choosing a good title isn’t only about the right keyword though, you also want to find a way to create intrigue around the topic. This is especially important when writing on a trend that your competitors are also chasing. So, before you write your piece going after the obvious angle, think about what you can do differently to stand out in the market.

Use Subheadings To Make Your Content Easier To Read

While it’s true that Google likes to see long-form content that can help your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, structure is crucially important. Long chunks of text with nothing to break it up are incredibly difficult to read and follow, especially if someone is reading your content on a phone or tablet.

Additionally, readers like to scan content because it may not all be relevant to them. To allow this more easily, you should be using subheadings that will direct them to a section they are most interested in. Subheadings will also mean your followers will absorb the information better, which all helps for brand engagement down the road.

Incorporate Visual Elements To Push Up The Engagement Factor

Incorporating visual elements into your blog posts is a powerful way to boost engagement and capture your audience’s attention.

High-quality images, infographics, and videos can break up text, making your content more digestible and appealing. Visuals not only enhance the aesthetic of your posts but also help convey complex information more clearly.

By integrating relevant visuals, you can create a more engaging and memorable experience for your readers, encouraging them to interact with your content and share it with others.

Include A Call To Action In Your Conclusion

After a visitor reads through a piece of content on your company blog, they may wish to further engage with your brand. A smart way to encourage this is through a call to action.

Your call to action isn’t meant to be a hard sell – there are a variety of actions you can promote, like simply encouraging them to ask for more information or sign up for your future blog posts. You can even pose a question that encourages comments and engagement.

Takeaway

In conclusion, writing a compelling blog post for your company involves a blend of strategic planning and creativity.

Start by focusing on your target audience to ensure your content resonates with their interests and needs. Crafting an attention-grabbing headline and using subheadings to improve readability will make your content more engaging and accessible. Incorporate visual elements to captivate readers and enhance their experience. Finally, don’t forget to include a clear call to action that encourages further interaction with your brand.

By implementing these strategies, you can create blog posts that not only attract attention but also foster deeper connections with your audience, driving engagement and strengthening your brand’s presence online.

How to Design and Use a Clever Tagline for Your Business

You’ve got a business, and you want it to stand out. A tagline can help you do that. A clever and engaging tagline will help your customers recognize, remember and relate to your business. It will also help distinguish your company from your competitor and convey the message that your company has something unique or special to offer.

A good tagline should be a sentence or short phrase that sums up what your business does and what makes it different from the competition. It’s a one-liner you can use to over open conversations and networking connections. Plus, it’s an important tool for advertising and marketing. The best taglines are memorable but don’t have to be cute or clever. It should be easy to remember and make customers feel something.

Here are some tips for designing your brand’s tagline.

Take inspiration from other companies

When you decide on a tagline, do some research on what other brands in your industry say about themselves. How do they talk about their products? What words do they use? Are there any common themes among them?

You can also look at how larger companies — like Apple, for example — construct their messaging. You might notice that Apple uses simple language and avoids jargon when describing new technology. This kind of clarity helps set them apart from other computer manufacturers who rely heavily on technical terms or unfamiliar vocabulary.

Get inspired by other companies but don’t copy. See how you can place a clever twist on their tagline approach and make it your own.

Focus on a single benefit

Keep it simple and focused on one benefit. Don’t try to be all things to all people, and don’t try to be clever. It’s not a contest, so don’t worry about being the funniest or most relevant. Instead, focus on what sets you apart from your competition. Trying to convey too many benefits in one tagline will only confuse people and weaken your message.

Some of the best taglines to be inspired by include:

  • Nike: Just Do It
  • Dunkin’ Donuts: America Runs on Dunkin’
  • Apple: Think Different (which became part of their brand identity)
  • Coke: “The pause that refreshes”
  • McDonald’s: “I’m loving it.”
  • Pepsi: “Come alive with the Pepsi generation.”

Notice how short and memorable each is? If it takes them more than a few seconds for people to understand your tagline, or if they must read it several times to remember it, think of something new.

Use focus groups to get ideas

Focus groups offer an effective way to get an idea of what people think of your business before you spend money on branding. It’s a cheap method, too — just ask friends and family if they’ll be willing to answer a few questions about how they feel about your company. Write down every word they say that describes your business and see which ones are most common.

You might even set up focus groups for different audiences. Maybe ask friends for their opinion, but also set up interviews with people in your industry who could provide more insight into what makes them want to buy from you instead of someone else.

Make it timeless and relevant

If a tagline is too trendy, it can become dated faster than you think. Take “Just do it,” for example. It’s an iconic phrase that has become synonymous with Nike’s brand identity. It’s a short and memorable tagline that should withstand the test of time.

That’s what you want.  When you choose a tagline, you want it to be timeless — something catchy but classy that will appeal to your target market no matter what trends are hot now. Your clients should look back years from now and recognize your brand.

A timeless tagline will be relevant for your customers for years after its conception. For example, Apple has used the motto “Think Different” since 1997, and since then, it’s been used on everything from print ads to billboards. As long as Apple stays true to its message — that they’re different than other companies — the slogan will continue to work into the future.

Put your tagline to work for you

Now that you have a tagline ready to go, it’s time to put it to work. Ensure you use your tagline in every aspect of your business, so people can see it everywhere and begin associating it with your brand. Use your tagline on social media posts, business cards, newsletters, and more. Put it to work for you.

Conclusion

A well-written tagline can be the difference between a mediocre business and a successful one. It can help you stand out from your competitors, attract new customers, and make a lasting impact on existing ones. Your tagline is the first thing people will see and hear when they encounter your brand. It’s crucial that it makes an impression, so take your time coming up with one.

Try some of these tips and see what works best for you and your business. Even if your tagline isn’t the most creative or catchy phrase in the world, it can be effective if it conveys what you do in a memorable way.

7 Email Marketing Best Practices

When it comes to marketing your business, email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to connect and build trust with your target audience. Regardless of industry or niche market, it’s imperative that you have a solid strategy in place before you start sending out emails.

With that in mind, here are some tips on how to get started with email marketing:

1. Have a Branding Strategy in Place

Your branding strategy should include the colors, fonts, tone of voice, and overall aesthetic that will make your emails cohesive and professional. The best way to do this is to create a style guide for your company that includes all of these details.

2. Make Every Character Count in Your Subject Line

On average less than 35% of marketing emails are opened, and even then, only an estimated 1.38% are clicked on.

Your subject line has one job—to get people to open your email. Once they do, you have a whole screen’s worth of content to convince them to click through to a landing page of your choice. Best practices suggest that you have 60 characters or less (approximately 9 words) to pique a person’s interest enough to open the email. Without that open, your awesome email content will never see the light of day.

However, there are some words (and even symbols) that could trigger a spam filter and send your email to a dreaded “junk” folder—ensuring that it will never be read. In order to avoid this utilize one of the many web-based subject line checkers that will help identify spam words, tab words, and other things to stay away from.

3. Use a Clear Call-to-Action

Your CTA (call-to-action) is the most important part of every email. It should be something that’s clear and easy for your customers to understand. The best way to do this is by making sure you include a clear CTA in the beginning of your email so that people know what they are clicking on. This will help increase your conversions, as well as allow you to track the effectiveness of your campaign.

In addition to being clear, your CTAs should also be concise. Make sure they give your customers all the information they need without unnecessary bloat or clutter.

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Split Test

Split testing your email marketing campaigns is a great way to find out which elements are likely to drive the most engagement. Depending on your email marketing platform’s capabilities, you may be able to test different combinations of content, design, offers, and CTAs to ensure that they are all performing well. Then you can use the test results to tweak your approach and increase the effectiveness of your campaign.

5. Avoid Buying Lists

Building your subscriber list takes time. But while you’re waiting, avoid buying lists and sending to people who haven’t opted in to receive your emails. This can result in a massive uptick in abuse reports, which can get you in trouble with your email service provider, and land future campaigns in spam folders. Buying lists can also be a scam if it turns out the lists are full of outdated email addresses that no longer exist. If you try to upload an outdated list, this could also send a red flag to your email service provider and prompt them to freeze your account.

6. Give Users an Out

As hard as you try to provide relevant and engaging content to your audience, not everyone will want to stay subscribed to your emails, and that’s okay. In order to make things easy on everyone (and avoid getting reported as spam), be sure to include an easy unsubscribe option in your email. Most email template builders come with this feature already equipped, but if yours doesn’t, it’s important that you add one.

7. Timing is Everything

Before you start sending out email campaigns, you’ll want to think about which days and times work best for your list. Most industry experts tend to agree that marketing emails perform best when sent on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Using these parameters can give you a good place to start testing to your list.

 

Final Words

Email marketing is an excellent way to connect with your audience and build trust, but it won’t work without the right strategy. With these best practices in mind, you can ensure that your email marketing campaign is successful.

Getting Familiar With Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization is one of the most viable and cost-effective ways to market to your audience. It makes your website more accessible, which results in more visitors and more opportunities to convert prospects into customers. It can be an effective tool for increasing brand awareness, developing relationships with prospects, and establishing oneself as a trustworthy authority in your field of expertise.

While it would take more than a single blog post to fully explore SEO, let’s look at some of the primary components that you can familiarize yourself with before undertaking an SEO effort.

Content Creation: Content SEO refers to the process of developing content that can help your web pages rank higher in search engine results. Search engines read the text on your website, and so the words you use there will help decide where your site will appear in their results pages.

Keywords Research: This is the process by which you investigate common search terms that people input into search engines and strategically integrate them in your content so that your material ranks higher on search engine results pages.

Local SEO: Local SEO is a method that helps your business appear more prominently in local search results when people search for it in their area. Local SEO can be beneficial to any company that has a physical location or that serves a specific geographic area.

On-Page SEO: On-page SEO involves optimizing both the text and the HTML source code of a particular page, as opposed to an off-page SEO strategy that involves links and other external signals.

User Experience: Creating good content is not only important to SEO – it can also help improve the usability of your site and foster a seamless user experience. For instance, make sure your website is responsive so that users can access it from mobile devices. And work on increasing page load speed, which will lower your bounce rate and encourage users to stay on your site longer. (The average bounce rate for pages loading within 2 seconds is 9%. That rate jumps to 38% if it takes more than 3 seconds.)

Website Authority: Although the concept of authority is relatively new in SEO, it is becoming increasingly significant to search engines as online users become more aware of its significance. For the most part, authority indicates that your website is trustworthy, of high quality and relevance, and that it has something to offer visitors. When your website has greater authority, it will rank higher in search results and more prospects will come to trust your brand.

Website Traffic: Increased web traffic is one of the primary objectives of SEO. Approximately 33% of all clicks are sent to the first ranking page, and the top five listings receive more than 75% of all hits. If you want more prospects to see your website using a search engine, you need SEO strategies that will help you rank at the top of the search results page.

The use of SEO can assist you in developing stronger relationships with your audience, improving the customer experience, increasing your authority, driving more traffic to your site, giving you a competitive advantage, and increasing conversions – all of which can lead to increased sales, more customers, and greater growth for your company.